Journalists write "knowingly" on the situation in Israel without ever living here; without first hand knowledge of what it means to live in this tiny country in the midst of a rather unfriendly neighbourhood.
I write without vengeance, without hatred, just what I experience,the view from my veranda and the thoughts in my head.
My archive is available at www.lingomatics.com/Shabbatshalom/index.html

About Me

I am a freelance journalist living in Jerusalem. I strive to tell the truth as it is never seen in the media - the life of one Israeli trying to get along with everyone but not willing to deny her past nor her identity.

Friday, 11 September 2009

Shabbat Shalom from Sheila

090911

11th September 2009.

Shabbat Shalom dear friends.

11th September 2001. Incredibly it is now eight years since we watched the in disbelief as two aeroplanes, one after the other, struck the symbols of capitalism and the success of democracy in the most horrific spectacle imaginable; knowing it was a terror attack but praying it was a freak accident so we would not have to consider that man could be so inhuman, so calculating, so cruel and so catastrophically brain-washed to perform such an act of insanity. We thought it would change the free world and make them understand the enemy but it didn't because we are just too "PC" to perform spot checks. We are too "PC" to denounce the hatemongering performed by clean cut white people too, but their insidious form of hatred does not include mass murder – this time.

As we remember those murdered, not in cold blood but with seething hatred, we have to recognize that it can and probably will happen again until we find a way to seek out those who would perpetrate such atrocities and those too cowardly to act themselves but send them on their deadly task. We owe the memory of the 3,000 innocents and their families to ensure the safety of our children. We owe the memory of the brave firemen and police that we will continue their tasks in protecting life.

An even bigger massacre was planned from the UK. Ever alert undercover police successfully foiled a plot to perform the biggest terror attack of all time by blowing 7 passenger planes out of the sky simultaneously, to "outdo" the 9/11 attacks, using apparently innocent drinks bottles filled with peroxide. Police caught them and the courts sentenced 3 terrorists- all British born and bred – who changed the face of flying. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6825404.ece

Prime Minister Netanyahu paid a visit to Russia and didn't tell the press!!!! How dare a Prime Minster, leader of his country, choose to remain silent on a diplomatic mission!!!! I presume that it was for the good of Israel and subsequent to the Foreign Ministers visit to the FSI.

Torontonians came out and voted with their feet and their buying power when the Toronto Film Festival threatened to become yet another anti-Israel platform for the Islamic right and the loony left. If you have any doubt as to the motives of those involved the co-director of the international film festival showcasing "Tel Aviv" said the city "remains contested ground". The so-called Toronto Declaration claimed that such films by Israeli or other film-makers was an insult to the Palestinian people. I suggest you check very carefully the names of the artists on the list – and boycott them. http://torontodeclaration.blogspot.com/ We should all react like the Torontonians and be there when needed to show them that we no longer walk single file to the gas chambers.

I fail to understand the reasoning of those supposed "bleeding hearts" who are apparently intellectually brilliant and so very, very stupid and naive as to who is doing what to whom. Their grasp of history is tainted by their anti-Semitic feelings and they truly believe that it is we who stole the land from the Palestinians – without recognizing that the West Bank was part of Jordan and Gaza of Egypt. While never claiming that we do or did everything right, we still come out as the good guys of the story. If the tables were turned would Palestinian trucks be trundling back and forth with humanitarian aid for us? Did you hear a word from them about the rape and beating of those who oppose Ahmedinejad? http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6829921.ece or that in the countries they support over Israel that homosexuals are stoned to death?

We have so much to be proud of – from medical research which saved the lives of millions to security measures which save the lives of travelers and shoppers alike; computer firewalls; chat (ICQ was the first!); and of course the cellular phone. Our Israeli Pavilion at the Beijing Expo is the ultimate in beauty and ingenuity – therefore truly representative of Israel. Architect Haim Dotan has done us proud

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc6rmT_1BjM

Katyusha rockets were fired at the North of Israel a few minutes ago, with no injury. Lebanese officials are searching out the culprits. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3775485,00.html

OK, now for truth time. I am so sorry that I told you I had flu and I was deeply moved by your concern, but it was a ruse. My big sister Doreen and her husband Melvyn were celebrating their Golden Wedding and I travelled to the UK to be at their party, but it was all a big secret until I walked in the door!! Had I realized your concern I would have made up a different story! The party was wonderful, Doreen as beautiful as ever and their four children, spouses and their children put on a brilliant show. I was also privileged to be at the 1st birthday of Zachary, my grandson, little brother of Sammy and Olivia, but missed the 40th birthday of my eldest son Daniel in New York. I know that he knows that I adore him – after all he is the best bout of flu (even then I mixed up flu with early pregnancy sickness) any mother could ever wish for. I am the luckiest woman in the world with amazing children and although we are scattered we are still closer than almost any family I know.

I got off the plane at dawn and joined the rush of humanity out of the airport. As I left gate number 2 I was greeted by the "sherut" driver "Yerushalyim, Yerushalyim". The sherut is a spectacularly Israel invention. They are minibuses which run between cities and also meet travelers at the airport. Don't think that they just go to Jerusalem – they are sorted into north, south, east and west for convenience! I opened the "sherut" window to smell that smell. I don't what it is, a mixture of pine, citrus, heat and Israel, I breathed in deeply and knew I was home. My daughter-in-law Stephanie knows just what I mean – she has the same sense of smell! The driver who held a high verbal and angry conversation concerning one of the other drives, kept switching hands on the wheel according to his gestures – as if the other guy could see his descriptive hands. We stopped next to Abu Ghosh for the first drop-off, then to Ein Kerem, Beit ha Kerem, Bayit ve Gan and finally me. Every step of the way my excitement grew as I neared our apartment building and climbed the stairs, crossed the threshold (poor Zvi struggling behind me with the suitcases) I couldn't wait to open the shutters and see Jerusalem spread before me. Home again, home again.

I have to thank my remarkable daughter-in-law Stephanie for letting me be Safta, in every sense of the word, to her and Gideon's amazing children. To all our children I wish Shabbat Shalom and to Joshua Manasse Cammerman - happy 2nd birthday beautiful, happy, gentle boy.